Direct gold trade between India and Russia would be immensely beneficial to both countries. “We hope to sign the transaction by September or October this year,” [Kechko] said. “We are also exploring the possibility of entering the gold loans sector as well.”

India is the world’s second largest importer of gold. The country imported $35 billion worth of gold in 2015. However India’s imports of the precious metal fell in 2016.

Russian officials have already signaled their desire to conduct transactions with BRICS nations using gold. On a visit to China last year, deputy head of the Russian Central Bank, Sergey Shvetsov, said that Russia and China are interested in facilitating more transactions in gold.

As we wrote last month, creating a BRICS "gold marketplace" would be an excellent way of bypassing the dollar while also using a valuable commodity that could be easily recycled for trade with other member nations.

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